Man outrages France by lighting cigarette from memorial flame

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during commemorations marking the 106th anniversary of the November 11, 1918, Armistice, ending World War I, at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024.

PARIS, France — A French minister on Tuesday said that she was taking legal action against an unidentified man who was filmed lighting a cigarette from a memorial flame at a major Paris war monument.

The video of a man stooping and lighting up from the fire at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe, before walking calmly away watched by tourists, caused indignation when it was widely shared on social media.

“I am filing a case immediately with the Paris state prosecutors so that this man will be found and sanctions imposed to make an example of him,” Patricia Miralles, minister for veterans and remembrance, wrote on X.

“You cannot ridicule French remembrance and get away with it,” she added.

The tomb, under the giant arch at the top of the iconic Champs Elysees avenue, contains the remains of a soldier killed in the First World War, laid there as a tribute to France’s dead.

“This flame does not light a cigarette, it burns for the sacrifice of millions of our soldiers,” said Miralles.

“This is an insult to our dead, to our history and to our nation.”

AFP was not able to determine the origin of the video.

Le Figaro newspaper reported that it was filmed by a Latvian tourist on the evening of August 4 and first posted on TikTok.